Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art

left squares
fill(255, 120, 0);
rect(spacing, spacing, w, h);
fill(swatch);
rect(spacing+w/3, spacing+h/3, w/3, h/3);
//right squares
fill(45, 140, 255);
rect(w+spacing, spacing, w, h);
fill(swatch);
rect(w+spacing+w/3, spacing+h/3, w/3, h/3);
Figure 10-1. Color Shift sketch
Color theory
For those of you with degrees in art, the preceding example will look familiar. To those of
you who escaped the torture of cutting out hundreds of little pieces of colored paper
while squinting and gluing your fingers together, this sketch illustrates an exercise for
studying the relativity of color, specifically color interaction. Two important artists and
teachers, Josef Albers and Johannes Itten, formalized the modern study of color for artists.
Their artwork and writings led to the creation of color theory foundation courses in
Western art curricula throughout the world. The sketch illustrates a classic exercise in
which two identical small swatches of color are placed on two larger sheets of differing
colors. The problem involves trying to make the smaller swatches appear to be two different
colors, by substituting different colors behind the swatches. This and similar studies
developed by Albers, Itten, and others reveal interesting and unexpected color phenomena,
including color and value shifts, afterimages, scale distortions, and even 3D spatial
movements—sometimes referred to as “push-pull,” a term coined by another major artist/
colorist/educator, Hans Hofmann.
COLOR AND IMAGING
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